The mould has been cleaned up at the Port Elgin Plex.
But it wouldn’t take much for it to regrow.
Saugeen Shores Council heard from consulting group Ainsworth Incorporated last night that if the building were to be built today, the design scheme would be totally changed.
Consultant and Mechanical Engineer for the company, Kanwar Kundlas says all it will take is a really hot, humid day outside, or body heat from one thousand people in the arena to start the mould regrowth.
Currently, the Plex has two dehumidification units and two heat pumps, which Kundlas says doesn’t have controls for humidity – they’re controlled manually.
Kundlas says the units can’t detect any humidity in the air, they only sense the air temperature for comfort cooling.
The company is recommending council install two additional dehumidfiers to ensure that humidity levels don’t increase enough to restart mould growth.
Council has to now decide whether to install the units before putting in a new ice surface, because when that happens, the extra moisture in the air could also have that effect.
This may mean moving some activities to the Southampton arena, but council would like to review the situation further before making any definite decisions.
The cost of undertaking the effort is also unknown at this point.
